Most automobiles manufactured today, as well as the great majority of those in use on the street, are equipped with door locks, the handles of which project upwardly from the window sill inside the window of the associated door, and which have enlarged upper or knob-like ends for ease of gripping. Such handles are usually made of plastic or like material, and are constructed with a shank which extends downwardly through an opening provided in the window sill of the door. Such openings are usually smaller than the enlarged upper ends of the associated handles, but are sufficiently large to accommodate the insertion and reciprocal movement of the shanks of such handles. Such handles have an axially disposed threaded opening extending into their bases to provide for threaded attachment of the handle to an upwardly extending threaded rod or stem which constitutes the operating means for the lock of the associated door. In addition, such threaded handles and threaded rods or stems are capable of adjustment by turning the handle on or off of the threads of the rods or stems over a substantial length to permit the handles to be adjusted to a selected length and thus to have a predetermined upstanding height when the handle is in door-locking position. This length adjustment capability is desirable both from the standpoint of providing a sufficient upstanding gripping surface to permit the handle readily to be manually grasped and pulled upwardly to unlock the door, and also from the standpoint of causing the handle to assume a selected adjusted position at which the extent of its possible movement coincides with that which is required to effectively move the locking mechanism from an unlocked position to a locked position.
With the conventional handles now in general use, it is possible for an unauthorized person to insert between the edge of the window glass of the door and the surrounding framing portions of the automobile, a wire, having a properly sized hook formed by a bend at its lower end, and by a simple manipulation, to hook the end of the wire around the shank of the locking handle and below the enlarged upper end thereof, and then to lift the wire and the handle to unlock the door of the automobile. In fact, it is well known that thousands of automobiles which have their access doors locked have been entered in this manner with the result that the automobile or property contained therein has been stolen.
Applicant is aware of the fact that one prior art effort to deal with this problem has been the practice of replacing the conventional handles altogether with metal rodlike handles that have a uniform diameter throughout their length except for flattened opposite areas adjacent the top of the handle to assist in gripping. These replacement handles, however, are relatively expensive compared to the collars of this invention, and are difficult to grip for operating the lock. This difficulty is due to the small diameter that is essential in order that the handle may be inserted into the usual door sill openings provided for the door lock handles and at the same time avoid any enlargement at the top of the handle such as would provide an overhang like the handles now in conventional use. In other words, these prior art handles would be much the same as handles that might be made of the shank portion only of the conventional handles now in general use, or in other words, the same as conventional handles which have had their upper enlargements or knobs removed.